Margate Official Says Drug Was Returned

July 25, 1991|By GARRY PIERRE-PIERRE and JOHN GITTELSOHN, Staff Writers

MARGATE -- Police Chief John Bordenkircher said on Wednesday that his department returned three of the four kilograms of cocaine it borrowed from the Broward Sheriff`s Office in September 1984.

Bordenkircher has been under fire concerning allegations that his department lost some of the drug. He also said on Wednesday that Margate police returned portions of the fourth kilogram at a later date.

His comments seem to contradict a June 10 Margate internal affairs report, which said only two of the borrowed kilograms were returned to the Sheriff`s Office, while the remaining two were kept by Margate police.

The Sheriff`s Office insists it has no record that Margate returned any borrowed kilograms.

The report said one kilogram was lent to North Lauderdale police and later returned to Margate police. The other kilogram was used to manufacture crack.

Bordenkircher gave this chronology:

-- On Sept. 27, 1984, Margate police borrowed four kilograms of cocaine from the Sheriff`s Office for a joint-sting operation with the Drug Enforcement Administration. Two were used.

-- On Sept. 28, 1984, those two kilograms were taken to the Sheriff`s Office drug lab for testing. They remained there. Margate police kept the remaining two packages.

-- On Aug. 11, 1989, Margate police and the Sheriff`s Office used one of the two remaining packages in a reverse sting. That package was taken to the Sheriff`s Office on Aug. 16, 1989 and remained there, he said.

-- The remaining kilogram was used in other cases and for training. Some is currently in Margate`s evidence room, he said.

-- On July 14, 1988, half of that kilogram was used in a reverse sting operation. That half was taken to the Sheriff`s Office and turned over for testing and is now in the possession of the county courts, he said.

-- On Aug. 8, 1988, North Lauderdale police requested and received about a quarter of kilo of cocaine. North Lauderdale did not return it, he said.